Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a versatile and widely used thermoplastic polymer. One of the myriad uses of PVC is as an insulative material for electronic parts, and wire/cable applications in particular. Ecological and health concerns regarding PVC, however, are driving the art to find PVC substitutes. For insulation applications, halogen-free thermoplastics show promise as PVC substitutes. Known are blends of halogen-free thermoplastics and one or more other polymers to form a polymeric composite. Achieving halogen-free polymeric composites with a balance of favorable PVC-like properties, however, has been problematic. Halogen-free thermoplastics are oftentimes incompatible with many types of other polymers desired for blending. Incompatibility between the thermoplastic component and the other polymeric component(s) yields a composite with poor mechanical properties having little or no usefulness.
Desirable would be a halogen-free thermoplastic composite having insulative and processability properties similar to PVC. Further desired would be a halogen-free thermoplastic composition having the aforementioned properties that is also flame-retardant.